Millennials, Loyalty, and Corporate Culture

Joe Beccalori is a 20-year digital marketing veteran and industry thought leader, and is the CEO of Interact Marketing.

When it comes to the workforce, Millennials typically get a bad rap. The generation, roughly those born from 1980 to 2000, is usually labeled as lazy individuals who spend too much time on social media. This criticism is just that--criticism--and from what I can see some of these negative labels are far from the truth. I’ve hired and worked with many millennials at my digital marketing agency Interact Marketing, and just as any other generation of workers, whether Baby Boomers or Generation X, the solution is all about how to motivate and absorb workers into your company culture.

Millennials now consume about 30% of the workforce in the USA. Most of these millennials are employed in places like Facebook and Google, where the median employee age for the latter is 29 (Computer World). Millennials are popular at these tech companies due to the perks of the job based on what millennials position as valuable in their life, such as a rich culture and respect over extra money. Many studies show that millennials simply live by a different set of values and culture relative to other generations.

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It’s no surprise that Google and Facebook have a high workforce of millennials, but how about the smaller businesses? How can they implement those same principles that Google and Facebook use to create a loyal millennial workers, but on a much smaller scale and budget?

Following are four tactics to help you absorb millennials into your work culture, and create successful employee stories like at Google and Facebook.

Shared Responsibilities: Think Like a Partner, Not Boss

Get in the mindset of a millennial worker, and know that they don’t work for you, but rather with you. They want to feel part of something bigger rather than just another worker with duties.

Treat them with respect, and constantly make them feel like they share the responsibilities of the entire company’s success rather than just contributing to a company task.

Be Cognizant of Work/Life Balance

Millennials value a work/life balance over extra money, so cater to that. Provide flexible working hours vs. the typical 9-to-5 schedule. Hearing those numbers alone can have a talented millennial quickly pursuing other employment.

The best way to go about it? Have one standard 9-to-5 day for everyone, and fill that day with important meetings and events that require the entire company to be there, such as training seminars. For the other days, allow workers to decide on their own hours. Obviously there will be parameters, say 8-6; just provide some flexibility.

Also, don’t be afraid to allow some work from home days. Obviously an employee must show discipline and provide quality work. It may sound like a “duh,” but make sure home workers are available throughout the normal working-day hours for calls with clients or employee associates.

Positive Criticism--and Then Some More

An employee can only grow stronger with constant feedback. From experience, millennials tend to want more positive criticism than other age groups. Keep that in mind; even the tiniest amount of positive criticism can help build the bond between you and your employee.

Overall Company Culture

The overall company culture that millennials crave is more casual and “less corporate stuffy,” as one of my employees says. What does this mean? Music, a relaxed dress code, healthy food choices, free parking, gym membership discounts, etc.

Think of Facebook's company culture, and focus on two of Facebook’s 5 Core Values: Be Bold and Be Open.

Also, the best time to infuse this type of culture into an employee is from the outset. Highlight your company culture and value immediately to prospects.

Concluding Thoughts

Due to the value and unique culture that millennials can instill into the workplace, it’s no surprise that Google and Facebook have a high number of millennium employees. Though they get a bad rap, these workers have as much energy as ones from any other generation--it just may take a different mindset to tap into their full potential. These four tactics above are designed to do just that--and on a much smaller budget than Google.